I could have called this post “little by little, strip by strip”.
As the strip planks go further up the hull with planking, they (obviously) follow the curve of of the bulkheads and my clamps no longer fit, both because of length and because of the curve. The picture below shows the last strip fitted using clamps.
So, time to find a different clamping solution. Internet searches didn’t find anything that would work for me. My answer was to use tie down straps with some wooden hooks I knocked up.
This solution works well. I don’t want a lot of clamping pressure. Too much pressure squeezes out all the epoxy making a weaker joint. In most cases, just pulling the straps tight does the job. Where I need a little more pressure, I insert a wedge as above. I do use clamps at the ends and to “persuade” the strip planks to bend to the bulkhead profile while I do the nailing and screwing.
And this is progress to date – gradually filling the gap.
